Kookaburras great Eddie Ockenden has called time on his stellar international career, the five-time Olympian finishing among the most capped of all time — an Australian record of 451 matches.
Ockenden, who was recently MVP in the Hockey One league, became a three-time Olympic medallist in five appearances. The 37-year-old Tasmanian won bronze in 2008 and as captain in 2012, before co-leading the side to a silver medal at the Tokyo Games.
He retires as the third most capped player of all time, currently in third place behind John-John Dohmen, who left the international scene with 481 caps. It means that all seven of the 400-plus capped players have now retired.
“I’ve always wanted to move back to Tasmania and the kids are at a good age to move right now, they’re not too old and we just knew it was time to move home,” said Ockenden, who will now earn rest in Hobart.
Ockenden started his career in 2000 with a scholarship through Tasmania Institute for Sport (TIS) when he was 13. He made his debut for the Kookaburras six years later against South Korea.
He added: “It feels like my whole career has gone by in a flash. There are so many great memories, with good friends and I just feel like I’ve been really lucky to be able to do what I love for so long.
“There’s always a lot of ups and downs in professional sport and when I reflect on my career it’s the overarching love for the sport which I realise is what kept me going.
The most capped men’s international hockey players
481 – John-John Dohmen (Belgium)
453 – Teun de Nooijer (Netherlands)
451 – Eddie Ockenden (Australia)
432 – Barry Middleton (GB)
412 – Dilip Tirkey (India)
410 – Waseem Ahmed (Pakistan)
401 – Jeroen Delmee (Netherlands)
“I learnt to love the difficult parts and to enjoy everything about it, including tough days at training, because it’s not all just winning. Success on the last game of the final day is rare and difficult to do. I just loved playing hockey and being a part of the Kookaburras, and I feel lucky I was able to do it at all really.”
And then the accolades came. A double World Cup winner, seven-time Champions Trophy winner, four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games Flag Bearer. He capped his career as Tasmania’s first ever Olympic Games Opening Ceremony Flag Bearer at the Paris Games earlier this year, a tournament which failed to finish with gloss after a last eight exit and off-field controversy for the team.
After accruing so many international caps, Ockenden revealed that, despite all the high intensity training, he never took up a sports massage and remained relatively injury free.
He said: “I tried it because everyone else was doing it in the Olympics or somewhere and they were saying “it’s really good for your legs”, but I didn’t like it and I also wasn’t sore so I just thought to myself ‘Why am I doing this?’
“I ruptured my kidney when I was about 15 and that was pretty traumatic and I think at the time I thought well that will be me then, I don’t really need to have any more injuries, and fortunately, I didn’t.”
He will forever be etched as one of the sport’s greatest, his 451 caps unlikely to be matched.
He added: “I can’t thank Grays Hockey, ASICS, TIS, my hockey clubs YMCC Perth and North West Grads, my teammates, all of the coaches I learnt from, and of course my friends and family, enough for all of their support. It’s been a huge journey, and they were all on it with me every step of the way.”
